Disc counting device



March I 1960 A. BERNARD DISC COUNTING DEVICE Filed April 18, 1957 INVENTOR. v ABRAHAM BERNARD W44 v ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,926,673 DIQSCICOUNTING DEVICE Abraham Bernard, Seaford, N .Y. Application A riiis, 1951mm... 653,582

1 Claim. c1. 133-8) My invention is an improvement in devices for counting discs. Such devices have been known for many years, but heretofore none have gained wide acceptance. In fact, the method of counting discs in widest use today is the rather primitive one of assembling piles of discs of the same diameter and thickness, laying them against a paper having two marks on it a predetermined distance apart, and counting the number of piles whose length equals that distance. My purpose is to provide a machine which can count several piles simultaneously and automatically, the discs in each pile being of uniform diameter and thickness but ditfering from pile to pile.

I accomplish my purpose by providing several horizontal plates, each resting on a separate horizontal stationary plate and being slidable laterally on it, each slidable plate having a vertical cylindrical hole through it capable of containing several discs, each hole having a diameter slightly larger than the discs to be contained in it. Each combination of sliding plate and stationary plate has suspended over it a vertical cylinder for housing a pile of discs, the cylinder being supported so that the pile rests on the sliding plate when its hole is displaced laterally from the cylinder and on the stationary plate when the hole is aligned with the cylinder. Each stationary plate has a vertical cylindrical hole through it, the centerline ofwhich is parallel to and a substantial distance from the centerline of its associated cylinder, and a container beneath the hole. A rotatable cam is positioned with respect to each sliding plate so that rotation of the cam causes the hole in the plate to slide first under its associated cylinder, enabling the discs in the cylinder to drop through the hole and rest on the stationary plate, then over the container so that the discs will drop into it, and then back to its original position. All the sliding plates may be attached together to form a single integral sliding plate and all the stationary plates may be attached together to form a single integral stationary plate. The cam may be replaced by any other means for causing simultaneous reciprocating motion of each plate.

An example of my invention is shown in the drawings, of which Fig. l is a perspective view of a disc counter, completely assembled;

Fig. 2 is a section view on line 22 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a partial section view showing a sliding plate after it has moved under its associated cylinder, enabling the discs in the cylinder to drop to the associated stationary plate, and then leftward toward the container into which the discs are to drop.

The assembly shown has a frame with a plate 11 and a plate 12. In the plate 11 are four vertical cylindrical holes 11a. Resting on the plate 11 is a sliding plate 13. In the sliding plate 13 are four vertical and generally cylindrical holes 13a. Also resting on the plate 11 and acting with it to enclose the sliding plate 13 is a cover 14. In the cover 14 are four vertical and generally cylindrical holes 14a, each hole 14a being displaced to the right of one of the holes 11a, the displace- 2,926,673 Patented Mar. 1, 1960 ment being the same for each pair of holes Ila-14a. Standing on the cover 14 directly over each of the holes 14a is a hollow cylinder 15. One holds pennies, one nickels, one dimes and one quarters. Standing beneath each hole 11a, is a hollow cylinder 16. As in the case of the cylinders 15 one holds pennies, one nickels, one dimes and one quarters. The penny cylinder 16 is to the left of the penny cylinder 15 and for each other denomination the relation of its cylinder 16 to its corresponding cylinder 15 is the same.

Mounted on the plate 11 is a shaft 17 which extends through a horizontal'slot 18in the sliding plate 13. Mounted on the shaft 17 is a crank 19 and a cam 20. The cam 20 extends through a vertical slot 21 in the sliding plate 13. Associated with the shaft 17 is a counter 22 which registers the number of revolutions of the shaft 17 and hence of the cam 20 and the crank 19.

Preferably each hole 14a is smallest in diameter at its bottom, and each hole 13a is largest in diameter at the top. The plate 11 is built up under certain of the cylinders 15 and the thickness of the plate 13 is correspondingly decreased to provide complete accuracy. Thus Fig. 2 shows the plate 23 added to the plate 11, and the sliding plate 13 cut away so that the corresponding hole 13a will contain five dimes with the top of the topmost dime flush with the top of the sliding plate 13. It also shows plate 24 added and sliding plate 13 cut away to accommodate four nickels in similar fashion; and plate 25 added and sliding plate 13 cut away to accommodate four quarters.

To operate the device described, coins of appropriate denomination are dropped into each cylinder 15. The crank 19 is rotated, causing the cam 20 to bear against the right edge of the slot 21, thereby causing the sliding plate 13 to move to the right until each hole 13a is under its associated cylinder 15 and the coins in the cylinders drop to the plate 11. Continued rotation of the crank 19 causes the cam 20 to bear against the left edge of the slot 21, thereby causing the sliding plate 13 to move to the left, carrying five pennies, five dimes, four nickels, and four quarters to the left until each hole 13a is over its associated cylinder 16 and the coins all drop into the cylinders 16. By multiplying the number of revolutions registered on the counter 22 by five in the case of pennies and dimes and by four in the case of nickels and quarters, one may readily compute at any time the number of coins of each denomination that have been moved from its cylinder 15 to its cylinder 16. I

If desired, a shaft 26 or a series of shafts like it may be mounted on the cover 14. These shafts may be used for forming paper containers to be inserted in the cylinders 16. When such containers are used it is a simple matter to slide each cylinder 16 out from between the plates 11 and 12, remove the coin-filled container in it, form another on a shaft such as the shaft 26 and insert it in the cylinder 16.

The parts coming in contact with the coins are preferably made of transparent material to enable the operator to spot faulty coins or anything else likely to cause faulty operation.

I claim:

A coin counting device adapted to simultaneously count the number of coins of different sizes, each in measured groups of several coins, comprising several cylindrical feeding chutes each having a diameter corresponding to one of several differently sized coins, said feeding chutes being mounted vertically above a fixed horizontal plate, each around a correspondingly sized hole bored in the plate, each chute being open at the bottom for supporting and feeding an aligned vertical stack of coins, several receiving chutes each cooperating with a respective feeding chute, and of the same approximate diameter, to receive the'coins removed from the corresponding feeding chute, said receiving chutes being mounted vertically below a second fixed horizontal plate disposed parallel to and vertically disposed beneath said first horizontal plate and having several cooperating holes similarly bored to pass coinsand deposit them in said re-v ceiving chutes alignedly mounted beneath said holes, each receiving chute and lower-plate hole being laterally offset from each cooperating feeding chute, a sliding plate mounted between said horizontally fixed plates to slidingly reciprocate laterally, said sliding plate having several sliding chutes comprising cylinders aligned with holes bored therein, each sliding chute being sized to a diameter corresponding to a vertically cooperating pair of feeding and receiving chutes, each sliding chute having a vertical height corresponding to a fixed plurality of several coins to be counted in each reciprocating movement of said sliding plate, complementary plate portions 4 mounted beneath said sliding plate to accommodate variations in height of said sliding cylinders, each said sliding chute being positioned in the sliding plate for movement in reciprocation of said plate between a feeding chute and cooperating receiving chute for transfer of the fixed number of coins therebetween, means for reciprocating said sliding plate and means for counting each reciproca tion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 757,612 Gilfillan Apr. 19, 1904 1,469,535 Richards Oct. 2, 1923 FOREIGN PATENTS 9,288 Great Britain Apr. 14, 1913 114,405 Australia Dec. 24, 1941 Belgium July 31, 1953 

